Phytochemical Profiling of the Halophyte Suaeda vera and Antileishmanial Evaluation of Its Extracts and Selected Metabolites, with In Silico ADMET Analysis
5 affiliations
- 1Departamento de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de León, Campus de Vegazana s/n, 24007 León, Spain
- 2LR Gestion des Ressources Animales et Environnementales dans le Semi-Aride, Institut Supérieur Agronomique de Chott Mariem, Université de Sousse, Sousse 4042, Tunisia
- 3Veterinary Research Institute, Hellenic Agricultural Organization, DIMITRA, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
- 4Instituto de Biomedicina (IBIOMED), Universidad de León, Campus de Vegazana s/n, 24007 León, Spain
- 5IBIOLEÓN (Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria de León), Hospital de León, Altos de Nava s/n, 24071 León, Spain
Abstract
Plant-derived secondary metabolites are a promising source of new anti-infective agents owing to their remarkable chemical diversity and broad spectrum of biological activities. Among them, halophytes are particularly promising because adaptation to saline environments promotes the accumulation of structurally diverse secondary metabolites. In the present study, organic extracts from four Tunisian halophytic species collected across different seasons were evaluated for their activity against Leishmania infantum axenic amastigotes, the etiological agent of visceral leishmaniasis in the Mediterranean Basin. Among the species tested, Suaeda vera was the only one to exhibit significant antileishmanial activity. Mass spectrometry-based phytochemical profiling of the bioactive extracts resulted in the putative annotation of 53 secondary metabolites and revealed qualitative differences in their annotated chemical composition among the seasonal samples. Three compounds putatively annotated in the active extracts—demethylzeylasteral, caffeic acid, and protocatechuic aldehyde—were subsequently evaluated individually using commercially available reference compounds and exhibited EC50 values of 0.20, 1.09, and 14.56 μM, respectively. Caffeic acid displayed the most favorable overall profile, combining potent antileishmanial activity with a high selectivity index (SI > 91.7) in mouse intestinal organoids. In vitro assays revealed that none of the three compounds inhibited trypanothione reductase-associated activity. Furthermore, in silico drug-likeness and ADMET analyses suggested that caffeic acid may have a comparatively favorable predicted pharmacokinetic and toxicity profile among the three compounds evaluated. Collectively, these findings highlight S. vera as a promising source of antileishmanial metabolites and establish caffeic acid as the most promising hit compound for further investigation.
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BibTeX
@article{serranomartinez2026phytochemical,
title = {{Phytochemical Profiling of the Halophyte Suaeda vera and Antileishmanial Evaluation of Its Extracts and Selected Metabolites, with In Silico ADMET Analysis}},
author = {Elea Serrano-Martínez and Estela Melcón-Fernández and Cathy Soh-Kamdjo and María-Cristina González-Montero and Julia Andrés-Rodríguez and Linda Majdoub-Mathlouthi and Mariem Rouatbi and Mouna Friha and Evangelia Sossidou and Yolanda Pérez-Pertejo and Rosa M. Reguera and Carlos García-Estrada and Rafael Balaña-Fouce},
journal = {Molecules},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.3390/molecules31213967},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/31/21/3967},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Phytochemical Profiling of the Halophyte Suaeda vera and Antileishmanial Evaluation of Its Extracts and Selected Metabolites, with In Silico ADMET Analysis
AU - Elea Serrano-Martínez
AU - Estela Melcón-Fernández
AU - Cathy Soh-Kamdjo
AU - María-Cristina González-Montero
AU - Julia Andrés-Rodríguez
AU - Linda Majdoub-Mathlouthi
AU - Mariem Rouatbi
AU - Mouna Friha
AU - Evangelia Sossidou
AU - Yolanda Pérez-Pertejo
AU - Rosa M. Reguera
AU - Carlos García-Estrada
AU - Rafael Balaña-Fouce
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/03
JO - Molecules
DO - 10.3390/molecules31213967
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/31/21/3967
AB - Plant-derived secondary metabolites are a promising source of new anti-infective agents owing to their remarkable chemical diversity and broad spectrum of biological activities. Among them, halophytes are particularly promising because adaptation to saline environments promotes the accumulation of structurally diverse secondary metabolites. In the present study, organic extracts from four Tunisian halophytic species collected across different seasons were evaluated for their activity against Leishmania infantum axenic amastigotes, the etiological agent of visceral leishmaniasis in the Mediterranean Basin. Among the species tested, Suaeda vera was the only one to exhibit significant antileishmanial activity. Mass spectrometry-based phytochemical profiling of the bioactive extracts resulted in the putative annotation of 53 secondary metabolites and revealed qualitative differences in their annotated chemical composition among the seasonal samples. Three compounds putatively annotated in the active extracts—demethylzeylasteral, caffeic acid, and protocatechuic aldehyde—were subsequently evaluated individually using commercially available reference compounds and exhibited EC50 values of 0.20, 1.09, and 14.56 μM, respectively. Caffeic acid displayed the most favorable overall profile, combining potent antileishmanial activity with a high selectivity index (SI > 91.7) in mouse intestinal organoids. In vitro assays revealed that none of the three compounds inhibited trypanothione reductase-associated activity. Furthermore, in silico drug-likeness and ADMET analyses suggested that caffeic acid may have a comparatively favorable predicted pharmacokinetic and toxicity profile among the three compounds evaluated. Collectively, these findings highlight S. vera as a promising source of antileishmanial metabolites and establish caffeic acid as the most promising hit compound for further investigation.
SN - 1420-3049
ER -